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When is a $24,000 home worth $80,000?
Answer: When government buys it.
The city of St. Petersburg purchased a house in December 2009 for parkland based on an October 2007 appraisal. The fact that the home was owned by the aunt of Goliath Davis, the city's senior administrator for community enrichment, is almost beside the point.
Davis did declare a conflict of interest, albeit only verbally, and his department doesn't have oversight of the city's real estate and property management department run by its director, Bruce Grimes.
But for City Council Chairwoman Leslie Curran to tell the St. Pete Times, “'It's a nonstory,'” is worth a frown. Other council members are still reviewing the matter, for good reason.
Just the fact that the 2009 staff report council members were given didn't note that the appraisal was 26 months old, only that the appraiser said the home was worth $80,000, deserves some ink. The council also approved the purchase without any discussion according to the Times article.
Typically, any appraisal older than six months is not a current appraisal.
Interestingly, according to the Times, there are no state or local laws mandating the maximum age for an appraisal done for a government purchase. The city was trying to quickly buy up the last pieces to create the park.
So, Coffee Talk has to ask, what's the rush to build a park and take property off the tax rolls?
It's probably obvious to point out, but here goes anyway: Maybe the problem was that no one was spending their own money for this. It was just government money.
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